Mathieson, Ethel

Mathieson, Ethel, Otterbourne House, Budleigh Salterton

Ethel Frewin Mathieson (1874 – 1954) was born in Stoke Newington London 1874. She was the second daughter of Frederic Coxhead and Bessie Mathieson.[1] Frederick was taken on as an apprenticeship in publishing in 1845 and in 1855 travelled to Australia to become a newspaper proprietor in Beechworth, Victoria.[2] While in Australia, he met Bessie Frewin and they were married in Victoria, Australia in 1860. Their two eldest sons, Fredrick and Francis were born in Australia.[3] Bessie and Frederic returned to England in 1863 before the birth of their third son Gerard in 1864. Fredric set up a successful printing and publishing F.C. Mathieson and Sons publishing directories and Stock Market News. His firm developed a reputation as financial statisticians. By1881 Frederic was employing 18 men and 16 boys.[4]

Ethel grew up in Hampstead and attended the North London Colligate School for Girls[5]. Her father died suddenly while staying in Filey in 1900 leaving Ethel a small independent income[6] and at some stage in the early 1900s she moved with her mother to Otterbourne House, a large detached 13 roomed dwelling in Budleigh Salterton. Ethel was living in Devon by 1906 when she played in a Budleigh Salterton Golf tournament. At the tournament she presented a challenge – prize of a silver cake basket, to be played for annually. The prize was to be given to any woman who won the tournament 3 times in succession.[7] Ethel lived at Otterbourne House although she was not there at the time of the 1911 census, possibly as part of a suffragist protest. At the time of the census, her mother had her married daughter, Marion, and recently divorced son Wilfred staying with her.[8] There were also two live-in servants.

Ethel was a suffragist and in 1909 arranged a meeting at Budleigh Salterton town hall to raise local interest in the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).[9] It was not until nearly two years later that the Budleigh Salterton Branch was formed with 40 members. Ethel was elected Honorary Secretary.[10] In 1913 Ethel became Hon. Secretary for the whole of the South West Federation of NUWSS societies, covering Devon and Cornwall,[11] and took part in the Land’s End to Hyde Park section of the suffragists’ Pilgrimage to London in 1913.[12]

The challenge for the SW Federation was for it to become self-supporting rather than being dependent on Head Quarters. At a fund-raising event “Forest of Christmas Trees” and Fete held at the Barnfield Hall Exeter the request for more money reflects problems of recruiting members and gathering subscription from affiliated associations.[13]

After the outbreak of WW1 Ethel appears to have continued her work for NUWSS. She was the NUWSS representative on the Budleigh Salterton Committee in support of the Devon Patriotic Fund.[14] In the following year she wrote a strongly worded letter in defence of the NUWSS Education Programme which had been accused of being propagandist and pro-German. She argued that the inclusion of literature from the Union of Democratic Control was to “provide for free consideration of all points of view”.[15]

Apart from her involvement with NUWSS, Ethel Mathieson was committed to trying to improve the over-crowding in Budleigh Salterton. In 1911 she bought a parcel of land in Bedlands Lane and hired an architect to design a group of terraced houses with allotments. Their design was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and were to be built on similar principles as Letchworth Garden City.[16] Ethel promised to keep rents below four shillings a week for 10 years provided the council supplied free water and drainage to the houses.[17]

In 1918 Ethel with others was given power by the Budleigh Salterton Town Council under the National Kitchens Order to ensure the provision of affordable meals to working families[18]

After her mother’s death in 1921, Ethel moved away moved away from Devon and spent a number of years travelling.[19] She returned to Devon in 1947 and died in 1954 at the Budleigh Salterton Cottage Hospital.[20]

 

 

Entry created by Rachel Cutts, January 2019


[1] Census and electoral rolls, www.ancestry.co.uk .

[2] Hampstead and Highgate Express, 15 Sep 1900, Obituary.

[3] www.FIndmypast.co.uk  Australian births.

[4] www.ancestry.co.uk Census 1881.

[5] www.Findmypast.co.uk National School Admissions Register and Log Books, 1886.

[6] www.Ancestry.co.uk England and Wales National Probate Calendar.

[7] Western Times (WT), 31 May 1906.

[8] www.ancestry.co.uk 1911 Census.

[9] Common Cause (CC), 30 Dec 1909.

[10] CC, 30 Nov 1911.

[11] WT, 29 Jan 1913.

[12] WT, 8 Jul 1913.

[13] WT, 29 Nov 1913.

[14] WT, 21 Aug1914

[15] Devon and Exeter Gazette, 9 Nov 1915.

[16] Nicola Daniel, Local Heritage – Frewins, Budleigh Salterton, Otter Valley Association Newsletter, Vol. 36/4, October 2015, available at www.ova.org.uk. Accessed 24 Jan 2019.

[17] WT, 23 Feb 1912.

[18] WT, 19 Apr 1918.

[19] www.findmypast.co.uk Passenger Lists.

[20] Daniel, Frewins, Budleigh Salterton.

 

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